Call to Confession: Companies Who Have Been Hacked, But Aren’t Telling

Data breaches are happening every day. Companies worldwide are losing large amounts of sensitive data to hackers, who can turn a pretty penny selling credit card numbers and healthcare information on the black market.

The problem here is, many of these companies are trying to keep their hacks out of the evening news, and this comes with major negative consequences for consumers.

When a company reports on a hack, the gears of remediation begin to turn. Associating banks will reissue credit cards to all those affected, and breach victims will be sent letters warning them to watch for any unusual activity on their accounts.

By not reporting on hacks, companies are basically denying their customers the right to defend themselves from credit card fraud.

Many companies are afraid to report on hacks, because they believe that what comes next is a drop in reputation, and a potential spending millions of dollars in remediation.

On the other hand, though, if they get caught not reporting a breach, it spells even more trouble. The media will drag their names through the mud and shame them publicly. And on top of the usual remediation costs, those companies will have to fork out even more moolah to cover the inevitable onslaught of lawsuits and fines.

Now, you might be thinking that you simply have to avoid getting caught, but staying off the radar isn’t as easy as you might think. Once the banks are able to determine your company was a common denominator for hack victims, a thorough investigation will be conducted, and your mismanagement will be brought to light.

Simply put: the best solution for everyone involved is for you to notify the authorities as soon as you discover a breach.

Somehow, unfortunately, all of this is not enough to convince many organisations to come clean once they’re hacked, which has lead the US to introduce strict data breach notification laws, stricter than anywhere else in the world.

The US accounts for the most reported data breaches in the entire world.

Coincidence? I think not.

While many countries like Australia and Singapore have guidelines for data breach notifications, they don’t have any concrete laws making it compulsory to do so.

This makes it hard to get a read on just how bad the state of cybersecurity is in those countries. The situation might seem good on the surface, but for all we know, data breaches may be a rampant problem that needs to be addressed urgently.

Don’t Wait, Call Now

One way to think about the whole issue is that getting hacked is just one half of a problem. Many cybersecurity experts believe that all companies are at risk of getting breached, and it’s just a matter of time till yours is too.

The second half of the problem starts when you don’t report on a breach. You’re basically aiding the hackers in selling the data they steal, which will be used by other criminals to commit easy credit card fraud.

Don’t be the person who fails to report a breach. On top of the multitude of business-related reasons listed to report a breach, you owe it to your customers that they be given a head start in securing their sensitive data, before the threat of fraud comes around.